FLASH — Chuck Todd tells “Morning Joe” that Reid looks like he will LOSE reelection and is weakened as majority leader. Asked if Reid is finished in Nevada, Chuck said: “I think so. I do — absolutely. If you look at the history of incumbent senators polling this far behind, … they lose. The only winner I can think of in a generation who was down by more than this to come back win was Jesse Helms in ’84 against Jim Hunt, North Carolina, and that was on the back of the Reagan landslide. Well, Harry Reid is running in a midterm. … There is no upward coattail that can drag him across the finish line.”

Chuck, on Vice President Biden: “He’s going to end up being the Senate majority leader, … because I do think that Harry Reid’s political damage is going to make it harder for him to keep those 60 votes together. They’re going to need Joe Biden, calling up his buddies.”

Al Sharpton tells “Morning Joe” that Trent Lott’s comment was worse than Reid’s: “Trent Lott was musing on how America would have been a better place if a Dixiecrat candidate had won.”

Open of “Today” — Matt Lauer: “Should he stay or should he go?”

Good Monday morning. RAHM FENDS OFF EXIT CHATTER — POLITICO’s Glenn Thrush: “‘He's not going anywhere,’ a White House aide said. ‘He's working every day on health care, Afghanistan, the economy and implementing the president's agenda. All this talk that he would go anywhere comes from people who don't know him.’ Top officials said they expect Emanuel to remain in the West Wing at least through November’s midterm elections — and indicated that he might stay around even longer if President Barack Obama asks him to help on the run-up to his 2012 reelection bid. That would give him a longer tenure than many chiefs of staff, and would be in keeping with the two-year timeline he suggested to some when he accepted the position in 2008. Friends say the only reason they can imagine Emanuel would leave what many believe to be the nation’s second most powerful job before then would be if Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has held the office since 1989, decided not to seek reelection to a seventh term in February 2011. His father, Richard J. Daley, had 21 years in office, a mark that the current mayor will pass in December 2010. People close to Emanuel say he considers Daley a mentor and has urged Daley to run for reelection. ‘Mayor Daley is a great mayor for a great city,’ Emanuel told POLITICO in an e-mail. ‘He has my full support, and it is my deep hope that he will seek reelection.’”

DEBUTS AT 9 a.m. ET — “The Daily Rundown,” MSNBC’s new show anchored by NBC White House correspondents Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie: Rahm Emanuel off the top, Sen. Cornyn will talk about his call for Reid’s resignation in the second half hour. Also, a “What if” game about Harry Reid with Nevada political guru Jon Ralston. Guests later in the week: Ken Feinberg on bank bonus outrage, and Anita Dunn.

The Tucker Carlson/Neil Patel site, “The Daily Caller,” went live early this morning. One of Tucker’s guest authors is Arianna Huffington: “I have no doubt that there will be many things on The Daily Caller that I disagree with, just as I am sure there are many things on HuffPost that Tucker disagrees with. But I hope that there will also be many things that we can agree on. … Good luck, Tucker and The Daily Caller Team. And happy linking!” Also Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee.

Diane Sawyer will anchor “World News” from Afghanistan tonight.

“GAME CHANGE,” by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, hits #1 on Amazon, where price dropped to $15.11.

Halperin on “Good Morning America”: “The bigger story, as far as we’re concerned, is the fact that the reason he was talking about Barack Obama so early was because he wanted to stop Hillary Clinton. Publicly, he was neutral. But … Harry Reid, other big Democrats, wanted to stop Hillary Clinton and they said, ‘We’re going to be for Barack Obama.’”

Halperin on “60 Minutes”: “The sort of mythology is that Hillary Clinton was the establishment candidate — that Obama had to run kind of a guerilla campaign against her. In fact, Obama was the establishment candidate. There were a number of United States senators, Democratic leaders, who secretly and privately encouraged him to run behind the Clinton's back.”

Gov. Dean, on “Morning Joe”: “A gossip book … a book on gossip … This is SO Washington. … This is really gossip. … salacious gossip about who said what to who in the men’s room.”

Joe Scarborough, slyly: “I feel so shallow.”

EXCLUSIVE — REID SURVIVAL STRATEGY: Democrats are preparing to throw the race card back in the laps of Republicans as part of a counterattack designed to help save Leader Reid’s political career. Reid’s allies plan to distribute the “F” NAACP vote ratings of Republican senators who have scolded him. The data will be made available to editorial boards, cable programs and the blogosphere — including votes on minimum wage, community-oriented policing, education funding and HIV/AIDS program.

“There are some Republicans who are trying to use this for political advantage,” said a source close to the Reid camp. “If Senators [Jon] Kyl, [John] Cornyn and others want to have an open and honest debate about race — and if they want to discuss their records on issues of importance to the African-American community — we welcome that dialogue. But we are not going to stand idly by while hypocritical Republicans take swipes at Senator Reid, distorting his record of achievement and their own record of failure.”

REID WINNING THE INSIDE GAME: Top Democrats tell POLITICO that they have no doubt that that Reid will survive in his leadership job: Not a single Senate Democrat is expected to speak out against him. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the no. 3 Democrat, is said to be quite certain Reid would ride out the controversy, particularly since Obama and the Rev. Al Sharpton had accepted Reid's apology and issued effusively supportive statements. "It's not a shock to any Democrat that Harry Reid is not the best spokesman," said an aide to another top Democratic senator. "But he made a heartfelt apology."

REID DIDN’T THINK HE WAS ON THE RECORD: The leader indicated on phone calls this weekend that he felt burned by the authors. The book says Reid made the remark “privately,” but does not say to whom. The comments were made by Reid to Heilemann and Halperin during an interview in his Capitol office. In an “Author’s Note,” Heilemann and Halperin describe the terms of their interviews: “All of our interviews — from those with junior staffers to those with the candidates themselves — were conducted on a ‘deep background’ basis, which means we agreed not to identify the subjects as sources in any way.”

John Heilemann, on “GMA”: “We did no off-the-record interviews and we have burned no sources with this book.”

STEELE FLIP-FLOPS FROM LOTT VIEW — RNC Chairman Michael Steele called yesterday for Reid to resign, but Steele took the opposite view when a Republican Senate leader was facing similar calls. The Washington Post reported on Dec. 14, 2002: “Lt. Gov.-elect Michael S. Steele said last night that he was personally upset by U.S. Sen. Trent Lott's praise for Sen. Strom Thurmond and his segregationist past, but said Lott should not be forced to relinquish his leadership position in the Senate. ‘Trent Lott apologized, but he needs to keep apologizing because this is a very sensitive issue to the black community,’ Steele (R) said at an event celebrating his election as Maryland's first black lieutenant governor. ‘I know Trent Lott personally, and I know that this is not his intent. But it's still unfortunate. And I think he needs to apologize a little bit more.’” On yesterday’s “Meet the Press,” David Gregory asked Steele if it would be right for Reid to step down as majority leader. “I believe it is,” Steele said. “[F]rom my perspective, whether he steps down today or I retire him in November, either way, he will not be the leader in 2011. But back when Lott was in trouble, Steele said an apology was enough, and said his past record should be taken into account. The Washington Times reported on Dec. 12, 2002: “Michael Steele, the lieutenant governor-elect in Maryland, said Mr. Lott’s remarks were a poor choice of words but don’t reflect his own experiences with the senator. ‘I know Sen. Lott personally and understand him to be compassionate and a tolerant statesman,’ he said.”

REPUBLICANS PLAN TO TURN UP THE HEAT:

— Karl Rove, in a telephone interview: “If you didn’t accept Lott’s apology, to be consistent, wouldn’t have to reject Reid’s, as well?”

— EXCLUSIVE: Republicans plan to press reporters to ask Reid what he really meant when he described a “light-skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” “Harry Reid doesn’t just owe people an apology – he owes them an explanation” of why he was even using such terms,” said Ed Gillespie, former counselor to President George W. Bush.

CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS issued a statement last night defending Reid and brushing back Republicans. The chairwoman, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.): “Senator Reid’s record provides a stark contrast to actions of Republicans to block legislation that would benefit poor and minority communities – most recently reflected in Republican opposition to the Health Bill now under consideration. I look forward to Senator Reid continuing to serve as Majority Leader to guide this important agenda through the Senate.”

THE LEFT WILL LOVE — L.A. Times columnist Sandy Banks, “It's not Harry Reid who should be apologizing: His remarks about Obama, however indelicate, carried an unfortunate truth. The real scandal is comparing him to Trent Lott, as Republican Michael Steele did”: “Harry Reid doesn't owe me an apology. Sure, it was a little odd to see the term ‘Negro’ used outside of a history class or documentary. Sounds like Reid is stuck in the last century. But the Senate majority leader didn't say anything many Americans — especially us Negroes — don't already know. If you're black, it is easier in this country to be light-skinned. … I think the next apology ought to come from Michael Steele — the light-skinned, dialectically flexible African American head of the Republican National Committee. Steele has called for Reid to step down as majority leader, likening him to Trent Lott, the former Mississippi senator rebuked in 2002 for saying he was ‘proud’ that his state had supported a segregationist candidate in the 1948 presidential election. That candidate was Strom Thurmond … Either Steele is playing politics with a combustible case, or he thinks Americans are so incapable of thinking intelligently about race that we can't tell the difference between Lott and Reid. Now that offends me.”

FLASHBACK — WHAT LOTT SAID — N.Y. Times, 12/10/02: “At issue are three sentences in Mr. Lott's tribute last Thursday to Mr. Thurmond, a South Carolina Republican who ran for president in 1948 on a Dixiecrat platform opposing "social intermingling of the races." With Mr. Thurmond by his side, Mr. Lott, Republican of Mississippi, said: ‘I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.’”

ALSO DRIVING THE CONVERSATION:

“AP IMPACT: Road projects don't help unemployment,” by Brett J. Blackledge and Matt Apuzzo: “Ten months into President Barack Obama's first economic stimulus plan, a surge in spending on roads and bridges has had no effect on local unemployment and only barely helped the beleaguered construction industry, an Associated Press analysis has found. Spend a lot or spend nothing at all, it didn't matter, the AP analysis showed: Local unemployment rates rose and fell regardless of how much stimulus money Washington poured out for transportation, raising questions about Obama's argument that more road money would address an ‘urgent need to accelerate job growth.’ … AP's analysis, which was reviewed by independent economists at five universities, showed that strategy hasn't affected unemployment rates so far. And there's concern it won't work the second time. For its analysis, the AP examined the effects of road and bridge spending in communities on local unemployment; it did not try to measure results of the broader aid that also was in the first stimulus like tax cuts, unemployment benefits or money for states.”

“SUPERTRUCKS” — BEST-NAMED STIMULUS PROGRAM EVER? At an event today in Columbus, Ind., Energy Secretary Chu will announce “the selection of nine projects totaling more than $187 million to improve fuel efficiency for heavy-duty trucks and passenger vehicles. … Currently, the transportation sector accounts for 28 percent of total U.S. energy use. As these vehicle technologies are adopted broadly across the country, they could save more than 100 million gallons of oil per day, and reduce carbon emissions from on-road vehicles by 20 percent by 2030.” Includes “Systems Level Technology Development, Integration, and Demonstration for Efficient Class 8 Trucks (SuperTrucks).”

SEC. CLINTON DEPARTS AT 9 A.M. TODAY — AP’s Robert Burns: “Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is kicking off her 2010 diplomacy agenda as she did a year ago, with a trip to the South Pacific meant to strengthen U.S. relations with key partner nations in that region and in Asia.”

REMEMBERING JEAN BIDEN — The White House: “The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden will be in Wilmington, DE to attend the services for the Vice President's mother, Mrs. Jean Biden. … [Today, a] wake for Mrs. Jean Biden will take place at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church … [Tomorrow, a] Mass of Christian Burial for Mrs. Jean Biden will be celebrated on Tuesday morning at 11 AM at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church … This event will be pooled press for print press, radio and TV only. No still photographers will be allowed inside the church.”

AL HUNT, on Bloomberg, “Obama Health Plan’s Success Rides on Cost Curbs”: “As Democratic Senate and House leaders privately hammer out a final compromise on their competing versions of health-care legislation, the controversies focus on a government-run option and abortion. These are irrelevant to the important decisions that will affect the credibility and sustainability of the measure. The House narrowly passed a public option, which, clearly lacking the necessary 60 votes to pass in the Senate, is dead. The differences in the anti-abortion language in the two versions are largely about semantics and placating those who see this issue in theological terms or as a vehicle to raise money. By contrast, critical decisions will affect the sine qua non of this initiative: curbing costs of the most expensive health-care system.”

REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA HONORED McCAIN TODAY — Tbilisi/AFP: “Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Monday decorated visiting US Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain with the Order of the National Hero of Georgia. At a ceremony in Georgia's Black Sea city of Batumi Saakashvili lavished praise on McCain for his strong support of Georgia during the August 2008 Russian-Georgian war. … McCain said the award was ‘an expression of partnership and solidarity between our two nations, confronted by common challenges, bound by common interests, and united by common democratic values.’”

PRESSWATCH — WashPost Style section lead — Howard Kurtz “Media Notes” — “It’s the Caller, Not the Holler”: “Tucker Carlson … launches his new Web site, the Daily Caller, on Monday. His partner is Neil Patel, a former Dick Cheney aide. His opinion editor is Moira Bagley, who spent 2008 as the Republican National Committee's press secretary. And his $3 million in funding comes from Wyoming financier Foster Friess, a big-time GOP donor. But Carlson insists this won't be a right-wing site: ‘I don't feel guilty about or ashamed in any way of saying we'll cover the people in power,’ he says, dismissing the capital's Republicans as ‘totally powerless. … Our goal is not to get Republicans elected. Our goal is to explain what your government is doing. We're not going to suck up to people in power, the way so many have. There's been an enormous amount of throne-sniffing. … It's disgusting.’ When he announced the Daily Caller last spring, Carlson was more explicit about its ideology, telling Human Events the site would be ‘opposed to what's going on’ under President Obama … Whatever its eventual coloration, Carlson faces a daunting challenge. Does the post-HuffPost world really need yet another political Web site? Carlson, who started out as a Weekly Standard writer before becoming a cable pundit, says the site will be distinguished by original reporting, including his own. …

“Beyond the 21-person staff at the office, a stone's throw from the White House, Carlson plans to attract top freelancers by offering them a share of ad revenue based on the traffic they draw. … The Caller has tapped a number of down-the-middle journalists, including executive editor Megan Mulligan, who was the Guardian's Washington editor. Conservative politics ‘is not my thing,’ she says. … Friess, an investment magnate and a Christian philanthropist, has donated $689,000 to Republican organizations and the Bush presidential campaigns over the last decade. … ‘We're not enforcing any kind of ideological orthodoxy on anyone,’ Carlson says. ‘It's boring,’ Patel agrees. The focus will be on the White House and Congress; early stories will examine Medicare fraud and wasteful stimulus projects … Carlson says such potential Web rivals as Politico's top editors, Tina Brown and Arianna Huffington have been generous in offering advice. … The site has hired a media strategist, Becca Glover Watkins, who persuaded Carlson to join Twitter and leaked to Fishbowl DC that Tuesday's launch party will be held at the home of her sister, Republican lobbyist Juleanna Glover. At 40, Carlson retains his boyish enthusiasm and preppy look (though he tossed the bow ties years ago).”

SPORTS BLINK — SORRY, KYLE — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Packers let it slip from their grasp,” by Tom Silverstein: “Glendale, Ariz. — Despite their remarkably long run of elite-level quarterback play, the Green Bay Packers finished another playoff season with the ball in their quarterback's hands and a chance to pull off a stunning victory. But just like Brett Favre had done twice before him, Aaron Rodgers made the last mistake. Some will remember the 422 yards and four touchdowns he threw in rallying the Packers from a 31-10 deficit to a 45-45 tie as time expired in regulation. But the play that will stand out — just like Favre's interceptions against the New York Giants in the 2007 NFC Championship Game and the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2003 playoffs — is the one that ended the game. Unwilling to get rid of the ball on the first possession of overtime in a wild-card game against the Arizona Cardinals, Rodgers got sacked on third and 6 at the Packers' 24-yard line, lost the ball and watched helplessly as linebacker Karlos Dansby returned it 17 yards for a touchdown. Game over. Cardinals 51, Packers, 45. It was one of the wildest playoff games the NFL has seen — there were more than 1,000 yards of offense and just two punts — and Rodgers, playing in the first postseason game of his career, appeared to have everything in control. He led the Packers to touchdowns on all five of their possessions in the second half and seemed destined to finish it off with a victory. But the dream ended when Rodgers allowed blitzing defensive back Michael Adams to hit him right in the face as he held the ball trying to make something happen.”

DESSERT — “NBC Universal’s Zucker Starts Fixing Damage Caused By Leno Move” — Bloomberg: “NBC Universal Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Zucker's next step, having decided to yank Jay Leno's 10 p.m. talk show, is to fix the damage done to the network's prime-time viewership by the four-month experiment. Executives at the network, last among U.S. broadcasters in prime time, begin meeting today on how to fill the five-hour-a- week hole left by Leno, Jeff Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, told reporters yesterday in Pasadena, California. Gaspin outlined his ideas. ‘There will probably be two scripted hours, another reality show, “Dateline” or some re-runs,’ Gaspin said … ‘I've been thinking about that as long as I've been thinking I may have to make a change at 10 p.m.’ NBC lost 4.6 percent of its primetime viewers since Leno began airing at 10 p.m. weeknights, replacing more expensive scripted dramas. The move, starting in September, helped CBS Corp. increase its advertising share, Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment, said Jan. 9. The switch also provided lower audiences for NBC local TV news and late-night programs.”

Poor mike allen is back on the kool aid! Harry is not winning anything - he is making a fool of himself. He was elected as a conservative Democrat and has turned out to be a livid liberal doing what only a few of his rabid followers want. Yes Mike, Reid is a loser in the eyes of Nevadans. He is also a loser in the eyes of most Americans that pay taxes and have to support all this graft, pork and corruption. Wake up, Mike!

It must be humiliating in 2010 for the negroes to have to line up at the big house with hats in hand to pay their respects to Massah Reid. Things like this only happen to a weak group of people...otherwise they would stand up straight and defy racism wherever they find it. This is what sixty years of welfare slavery will do to ANY people. They don't realize just how pitiful it looks to others and how much ridicule will be expressed....go get Clinton a cup of coffee while you are at it!!! You are BETTER than this. Don't let ANYONE speak for you or you will get this endless line of black fools drooling into their microphones on national TV.porchhound

Reid is winning the party game with the support of all the democrat senators. These people would support this racist jerk even if he came to work wrapped in a white sheet with a pointy hat. There are just as many racists in the democrat party as there are in the general population. Where do you think they come from? It's a farce for the democrats to expect people to believe they have no racial animosity. Reid is losing big time in Nevada because the voters are sick of the lies, double standard, arrogance and bad judgment. They don't even need to consider that Reid is a closet racist to have a good reason to get rid of him.

?TO BE, OR NOT TO BE?! Yes, truly, that is the question. There are no more "sure things." The Robber Barons of Corporate greed set free by The Bush/Cheney Regime, have successfully eliminated our American certainty, and replaced it with near financial ruin. Yes, I'd hate to see anyone but a Kennedy in the Massachusetts Senate seat, but it's time for the American citizen to stop thinking in terms of the Media created fantasy of Blue vs. Red, used by ?talking heads? to ease their herding of the masses. As both Steele & Reid have proven, there are mental midgets in both National Parties. This is a call for recognition: it's not about Color, or Party, or who you voted for in the past. It's about a new low for those in high office. It?s about a middle class that needs to rise up and put Banks, Wall Street and Government in their proper place and perspective. It's about the newly ?have nots,? taking back America from the "Money Changers." And, it?s about Time. Now we have no choice but to give elected officials and Business Institutions a taste of being ?Left Behind? in the ?Dark Side? they have created. It?s Time for ?We The People,? to step back out into the Light of Free Will, Free Thinking and Freedom. It?s Time to restore the rights of both those who have paid their dues and paid their debt to society. It?s Time to resurrect our Human decency and protect it from all industries who look down on us as cattle to be herded to financial slaughter. Time to realize Corporate CEOs and their Board Members don?t care about you, your children, nor your neighbors and friends. Time to ?Seize the Day, confident in the truth, Corporate leaders can?t quite bring themselves to believe we?ll do anything about their using us to maintain their lifestyle with outrageous bonuses. Knowledge is power, so know this: out of sight, in the shadows of secrets and lies, Banks and other institutions are scrambling to think of newer schemes to drain our financial blood, so their corporate hearts can continue to beat the life out of us and our Nation. However, they scramble too because they are scared of us now. They are scared of the President with the new look from the foreign country of Hawaii. They are scared of what might happen if ?We the People? get pushed too far. They are scared of US, out here in the U S A. So yes, as I told you last Thanksgiving, take your money from The Takers, but don?t stop there. Sign petitions, rally your neighbors, call & write members of Congress, and yes, implore all conservatives to let go of their fear to let go of the ?status quo.? Proclaim to all, this will be ?the Land of the Free? again, beginning with me. Let those five per centers at the financial top, know that our American grass roots are now producing thousands of ?George Baileys? who are making a comeback to re-take the ?Home of the Brave.? ?We The People? will not be the manure under their feet used to fertilize their estates of green. Be counted in this Census & election year, by demanding the repeal of ?the Patriot Act? as just one wakeup call to the powers that be. ?We the People? now see you for what you are, and calculating domestic Corporate terrorism is as dangerous to our American financial stability as any attack from murderous members of al Qaeda. Now, America, ?Let Freedom Ring.?Giving HOPE a Helping Hand, www.TheReasonableVoice.com

Is what Reid said any worse than what Steele and any of the republicans have said and are saying if not outright behind closed doors. Talk about playing the race care Steele sure knows how to do that ,I sure hope people know Steele for what he is a sell out and remember the republicans do not care about the poor or middle class only the wealthy and have proved it time and again.Steele apparently fits right in with that group a sell out all the way around.Remember the republicans want to take voting rights away from people just because they are homeless.NOT RIGHT.Do you see Steele apologizing or any of those other people who made remarks about President Obama? NO YOU DID NOT and never will.The tea parties are nothing but something made up from the drags of the republican party and pushed by Hypocrite Beck with his tax deal and palin with hers she had to end up paying back.Palin apparently made the same kind of remarks at a dinner and the media let it pass.People should be worried about people like McCain and others older who we need to get out of office and not just jump on the race baiting.and that goes for both parties,it just seems that since president Obama was elected the republican party has turned into the KKK for the most part and the KKK used blacks when it was to their benifit like Steele is. How dumb do they think people are?